The New Life and results of Jonas
by pupwriter
Summary: This is a story about what I think would happen, had Lois Lowry continued The Giver. It changes setting from Jonas's new home back to his old community. Please comment, this is my first ever fanfic story.
1. Chapter 1

THE GIVER CONTINUED

Chapter 1. The arrival

The sled ride was better than even the one from the first memory he had ever received, on that very first day of his training. Jonas and Gabe cut through the thick snow, speeding down the hill. The sled slowed down, coming to a gradual halt beside the road. Jonas was sure now that his wishes had come true, all his hard work to great avail. He looked up the hill behind him, covered in the sparkling flakes of soft snow. "What do you think, Gabe?" Jonas asked the toddler who he was already starting to think of as his brother. Although he knew that the small toddler wouldn't be able to respond, Jonas needed someone to talk to. He had been cut off from any civilization for weeks on end, biking the endless miles to Elsewhere. He finally had arrived. Just minutes after the exhilarating sled ride, a middle-aged, redheaded woman walking down the street saw them and walked over. "I don't think I've seen you two here before. Do you live in the area?"

"No" Jonas replied "We arrived just minutes ago." "On a little sled without your parents or any coats? Not to mention that you both look like you haven't eaten in days!" The woman exclaimed incredulously. "Where are your parents?" "They are far, far away, and the chances of ever seeing them again are about the same as the chance of one of us getting hit by lightning in the next hour," Jonas answered sadly, just now realizing that he had left his thoughtful parents, ever-happy Lily, the kind giver, comical Asher and gentle Fiona, not even having the chance to tell them goodbye, and never would get the chance to see any of them ever again. The terrible realization hit him like a hammer to his chest "Well, you both look like you need to have some food and rest." The kind lady commented. "Why don't you and your little friend come on down to my place and have a bit of something to eat, and then you can get some rest." "Oh, Thank you so much!" Jonas breathed, overcome with happiness and relief. "Your observations happen to be quite accurate, actually. Neither of us has eaten in at least a day, and we haven't slept on something other than rocks or fields in weeks." "My goodness!" The woman gasped, obviously appalled. "Well, all of the few fleeting inhibitions I had about letting two runaways into my home are now far past gone. Follow me back to my place and we can get you two a much needed bite to eat."

Jonas trudged through the thick, cold, dirty substance that was covering the road. He hadn't received any memories of it, and hence did not know what it was called. The task would have been quite effortless, especially with his newly developed strength, but he was weak form lack of food and sleep, and his legs were beyond exhausted, making something as simple as walking down the street a quite daunting task. Of course, pulling the toddler that he now loved more than anything he had ever known down the street in a sled definitely didn't make anything easier for him, especially because he was being exceedingly careful to avoid all of the road's bumps and holes as not to disturb the now sleeping boy.

Regardless of all his worries and discomforts, as Jonas slowly made his way down the street behind the woman, tugging Gabe along, he felt happier than he had been in years. He was so close to achieving his goal of finding a new life Elsewhere with young Gabe, who he now thought of not as just the baby that his father had brought home to his family for extra nurturing, but as a brother which he would do anything to keep safe.

"Well, this is it," the kind lady said, coming to a stop at the steps of a small, cozy looking brick house. "It's not very much, but it's my home." She paused for a moment before asking Jonas if he would like her to carry Gabe upstairs for him, as dragging a sled up a staircase is not a very sensible idea. "No thank you" Jonas replied "I can bring him up, and you have been so generous that I would hate to impose even more on you than I already have," Even though truly, he just wasn't yet comfortable with the idea of letting anyone else handle his little brother.

"Okay, if you insist" the woman replied as the three entered the house. "Oh, and by the way, my name is Anne." She started to go down the hallway in front of them, and Jonas followed, with Gabe still in his arms.

Anne entered the kitchen, and opened up a door to a room full of food. Jonas was taken by surprise, realizing that he would have a lot to learn if he wanted to fit into this strange new place. A whole closet full of food? Why did anyone need so much more than the 3 daily meals that were given out by the community. Or was this world so different that they didn't HAVE their meals given out by the town, he pondered, amazed by the mere idea that people here might actually be able to eat all that they want, whenever they wanted to. He had never seen anyone who ate a lot more than himself, as his food was rationed equally for all members of the community, but he had the feeling that the results would not be very good. He decided to ask Anne. "Where do you get so much food that you can actually have a whole room of it? Doesn't the government only give you enough to have for one meal?" "The government giving out meals to people?" Anne asked, befuddled by the apparently strange question. "Did they actually do that wherever you came from?" "Yes," Jonas answered sheepishly, embarrassed from asking a question that was apparently very unusual. "Where I come from, the government just gives out meals to all of our families at each mealtime." "Wow, this is going to be a longer story than I thought it would be, isn't it…what's your name? sorry if you told me and I just forgot." "My name is Jonas, and this is my kind of brother Gabriel, but most people call him Gabe. And yes, it probably is going to be a long—"

Jonas instantly stopped talking as Anne set down a warm bowl of oatmeal in front of him and Gabe. He gently woke the toddler from his slumber and held out a spoonful of the delicious food for him. Gabe ate the spoonful in an instant, so Jonas got him another, and he practically inhaled it, as he did with the next spoonful, and the next, and the next, until the bowl was completely emptied. "Wow, that little Gabe is gobbling up the oatmeal like he hasn't eaten in two days!" Anne exclaimed, amazed that such a tiny person could eat so much. "That's probably because he _hasn't eaten anything in two days."_ Jonas informed her, annoyed that she had said it like it was some kind of joke or something "WHAT?" Anne shouted " Oh my god, the poor child!" She paused for a moment, thinking. "And judging from how caring you are for him, and that you gave him the food first even though you are probably just as hungry, if not hungrier than him...When was the last time that you ate something?" "I think something like 3 or 4 days ago " Jonas informed her, sadly telling the truth as he fed Gabe some more oatmeal from the bowl that Anne had just put in front of him.

"I'm starting to wonder if this is all just some kind of trick or s…" Anne was cut off by a sound like five motorcycles starting up. "Jonas, do not tell me that that noise was your stomach growling" "Okay, I won't" He grinned sheepishly "But I will tell you that if I said it wasn't, then I would be lying." "And my wondering has disappeared. My goodness! I just want to warn you, you should probably stop giving Gabe more of that or he might be sick. You, on the other hand need to eat some of that oatmeal before your stomach gets me arrested for illegal possession of a machine gun with that _awful_ noise." Jonas laughed, set Gabe down on a chair next to him, and took a bite of the oatmeal. "_**My god, that is GOOD!**_" Jonas exclaimed before cleaning the bowl in an instant. Anne, knowing how hungry he must be, had already set down another bowl next to it. It was gone in under a minute. "I think I had forgotten what my stomach feels like when it is satisfied. And I will admit, it feels less than terrible."

"Well, Jonas, now that it's nice and full, I bet you and Gabe would like some sleep, wouldn't you?" Anne asked. "Yes, and I owe my life to you because if I hadn't gotten something to eat soon...I, well, I wouldn't be in a very good situation," Jonas said. "But I need to ask you one more favor-could you please enlighten me on the location of the bathroom?" Anne laughed. "Well, what could I have done other than let you come back here with me? I mean I couldn't just leave a young teen and a baby to sit out in the cold to die could I? And the bathroom is down that hallway, second door to the left." "Thanks" Jonas replied before running down the hall. When he came back into the hallway, he saw Anne at the other end with Gabe walking unsteadily in circles around her, obviously very proud of his great skills. "Come on down here Jonas, so I can show you your room for the night." Anne called to him. Jonas walked down the hall, admiring the nice carpet. The house might not be huge, but Anne definitely had a knack for interior decorating.

Jonas got to where Anne was waiting with some…Jonas gasped with excitement…she had gotten him clean clothes to wear! (He had been wearing the same disgustingly filthy clothing since he left his community almost a month ago!) and even had somehow got something for little Gabe to wear. (where did she get baby clothes from?) Jonas walked into the bedroom and lifted Gabe up onto the bed. Anne turned off the lights "We're safe at last, Gabe," Jonas whispered, and they both slept.

{Author's note: next chapter goes back to Jonas's old town, at his family's house the day after Jonas leaves for Elsewhere. Please comment this is my first fanfic story tell me what you think!}


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Several Weeks Earlier, Back at Jonas's Old Home

Part 1

"Mommy? Where's Jonas?" Lily inquired her mother worriedly. "Lily! What could you possibly be doing awake at this hour? It's 3A.M.!" Mother scolded. "But Mother, this is IMPORTANT!" Lily retorted "I had gotten up to get a drink of water, but when I walked past J-J-Jonas's room, he, he wasn't THERE! And neither was G-G-Gabe! And I looked all over the house and they weren't anywhere!" Mother suddenly sat up in her bed, her face white. "Are you sure this wasn't just a scary dream, sweetheart?" "YES! It was REAL!" Mother got up, waking Father, as he had amazingly slept through Lily's shouting. "Dear, it's Jonas- he's missing, along with Gabriel!"

The three scattered about the house, looking all around, calling "JONAS?" After a long half-hour of searching they gave up looking around the house. "Maybe he went over to The Giver for some reason. Where else could he be?" Mother said, voicing the thoughts of the rest of the family. "Yes, maybe, but we mustn't check now, being that it _is _3:30 in the morning," Father reasoned. "But, but..." Lily was cut off by her mother "Honey, it won't help us to go to the Giver if he is still sleeping, and it would be very rude to wake him, wouldn't it? Now go along to bed and we'll talk more in the morning." "Fine." Lily stomped up the stairs to her bedroom. Several hours later, the family had gotten up earlier than usual so that Lily would be to school on time despite their trip to the Giver. When they arrived at his house, the woman at the desk told them that they were not allowed to enter the Giver's room, but that she would ask him to come out to talk. She also said that she was pretty sure that Jonas had left for home the night before, and that she never saw him return. Sure enough, when The Giver came out he said he had no idea where Jonas was, and that he didn't know why Gabe would be gone too. "Thank you," the family said, holding back tears. When they got home they knew that they had to just pretend nothing was wrong and go about as usual, and maybe Jonas would be back later in the day. Lily saw Asher and asked him if he had seen Jonas. Asher said no, he had not seen him since class the day before. The days went on and the family painfully adjusted to living without Gabe or Jonas. They had almost completely returned to normal when one night, while they all slept...

Part 2

At Asher's house, Asher is asleep. He begins to dream a very strange about things completely unfamiliar to him

_Asher looked up. He saw __small,__ featherlike specks of a cold substance, falling towards him. He looks back down and sees that he is sitting in a-he wasn't quite sure what it is, and it had a strange but amazingly beautiful quality to it that he couldn't describe-which is perched atop a giant mound covered in a slick very light shaded sheet, going down and down hundreds of yards. Something, he didn't know what, made him start to slide down the mound. He wasn't sure __whether he liked the exhilaration of the ride, because the bitingly cold wind pierced through his jacket like needles. He wanted to slow down, but his odd vehicle wanted otherwise. It sped up, accelerating faster and faster, faster than he had ever gone before, even when he used to race his friends on the road after school. He saw the end of the mound coming up, but then he noticed a small lump in the snow. It was already too late to jump out, and he had no idea how to steer the vehicle, although even if he had it was too late. He hit the bump at top speed, and went flying into the air. A string on the vehicle had caught onto his leg, making it so that he __couldn't separate__ himself from the heavy platform like vehicle in time. He h__it the ground hard, hitting the __slick and also very solid sheet __knee first. He heard a loud crack coming from…himself. It took a moment, but suddenly a terribly agony surged forward into his senses, a feeling worse than any other pain he had ever felt in his life multiplied by 100.__ He screamed a terrible shout of pain.__ He looked down and nearly barfed when he saw the awful, gory mess of bloody, destroyed bone and muscle that was his leg. He was lost, alone, confused and had no way to escape from the terrible dream. He lay there in pain for what felt like an eternity, before finally he awoke. _But this was only for a moment before he was overcome by another memory. _He was riding on a strange creature quite like his old comfort animal from when he was a small Seven, which his dream-self knew to be a horse. He and the…horse?...walked __through the expanse of flowers and grass __over to a small river, from which he and the horse drank__ clear, refreshing water. Asher felt a strange bond with the animal as they sat by the stream. His dream self knew it as love. _He finally woke up, more permanently now, but was overcome by the knowledge of things he had never before experienced. Hunger, pain, sadness, love, and all of the things around him had the same quality as the vehicle he had ridden on in that unbearable dream. He looked at his clock. The time said 7:30! Why hadn't his parents woke him up? School started in 20 minutes! But as he walked past his parent's bedroom he saw them both there, crying in their sleep, and knew that he wasn't the only one who was having the terrible dreams.

He walked downstairs, and saw that no one was outside. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Then he saw the Receiver of Memory, not Jonas but the elderly man who he was trained by. Asher stepped outside. The Receiver saw him and walked over. "I see that luckily at least one person in our community has arisen. I believe that you have had some dreams of very new experiences and suddenly gained much knowledge, am I correct?" "Yes" Asher replied. "Do you have any questions about them?" "Yes, many" "I am here to answer them." "What is the strange quality that everything seems to now have? And what is the white feathery powder that fell from the sky? And the large mound and the vehicle I rode down it?" "The quality is called color. It is what we all saw before they erased it from our memories when they converted to Sameness." "And the feathery stuff?" "Snow, a kind of frozen rain that fell from the sky in _blizzards__,_ also from before Sameness. All of the things you saw were from before Sameness. The vehicle was called a _sled_ and you would use it to ride down a mound, which was called a _hill__,_ when the hill was covered in snow." "That sounds like it might be fun, if it didn't end in a broken leg."

"Yes, it is fun. Follow me." "Where are we going? What if my parents wake up?" "Oh, yes, I forgot. Leave a note telling them that you will be back soon. We are going to a place that your good friend Jonas was quite familiar with, for things good and bad." Asher left a note like the Receiver told him to, and then followed him down the road. When they reached the Annex room, they entered, and Asher, like Jonas had been, was amazed at the books. "Okay," said the Receiver, "Lie down right here on the bed, and I will give you a memory of the sledding, but without the crash. It is much like the one I gave your friend on his first day of training." So Asher lay down and as the Receiver put his hands on Asher's back, Asher was swept into a memory of sledding.

_He was sitting on top of a sled, and this time, he knew what was going to happen, and that it wouldn't end badly. Now that he was familiar with the sled, not lost in confusion, he tried to figure out how to use the strings to steer. Once he thought he knew how to do it, he took his legs and pushed off. The sled went quickly down the hill, and Asher loved the exhilaration that the speed and cold brought him. He tried out his new steering skills as he went down. He reached the bottom of the hill, and he then started to slow down as the snow piled up in front of him._

"That was awesome! Can we do it again?" Asked Asher giddily. The Receiver smiled. "Yes, you can, you must just call it back like you would with any other memory." "Cool!" Asher replied, grinning. "Now," said the Receiver, "Would you like to help me explain and help the community with their new emotions and knowledge? You seem to have taken all of this quite well, but others, they will not." "Sure!" "Okay, well, we better get started. First stop, your house." "Let's go!"

{Author's note: still looking for feedback on my writing, please comment! In the next chapter we go back to where Jonas and Gabe are with Anne, and they (or Jonas at least, Gabe would but he can't, uuhhh, talk yet) tell their long but still interesting story.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: When Jonas wakes up

Jonas awoke in a warm bed. At first he thought he was in heaven because he had died, but then he remembered the events of the, well, what he thought had been the day before. He saw Gabriel starting to arise beside him. He lifted himself and Gabe out of the bed, and started to walk down the hallway. He entered the kitchen, and saw Anne eating. "Oh look! The two dead logs have arisen at last! I was starting to be worried that you two had died in your sleep!" "How long have we been asleep?" asked Jonas. Anne laughed. "Well you went to sleep on Tuesday. It's Friday afternoon." "We've been sleeping for almost 3 days?" "Yep. Good thing it's Christmas vacation." "_What _ vacation?" asked Jonas. "Christmas, you know, Santa and presents?" "No, I actually don't know," Jonas replied. "Kid, where are you _from? Pluto? _You truly have never heard of Christmas? I think I'll get you some breakfast, and you should start with that story of yours. Here, sit down." Anne told him, astounded. "Ok" Jonas sat down on the chair, and lifted up Gabe onto his lap as Anne got them some cereal from the still amazing to him food room. "Ok," she said, "story time!" "Where should I start?" Jonas wondered aloud. "At the very beginning" Anne advised him. Jonas did. "I was born in a town that didn't really have a name, it was just called 'the community' I had a little sister, four years younger than myself. I am 13. In our community, we were grouped by year of birth, and we didn't have specific birthdays. Every December were the ceremonies where the members of the age group all became another year older, and were introduced to something new. There were exactly 50 newchildren given to the families who had been approved to get one, unless one was defective and therefore released." "Released?" Anne asked "Being released means to be Euthanized. They did it to the old, the criminals, one of every pair of twins and babies who do not sleep quietly through the night." "Babies?" "Yes, isn't that right Gabe? I'll come back to that later. Each family, which was created by the government at request by one person to have a spouse, could requisition one boy and one girl for their family, which they would receive at the ceremony." "Ok, this will be my last question for now, I'll just write them down and ask at the end, but they were given babies? And could only have two, one of each gender? Who actually _had_ the babies?" "Yes, Yes, and there were designated birthmothers who had a certain number of babies before becoming laborers. At 12, everyone starts their training for the job that the elders have chosen for them. This is the job that they will have for life. In the community, we had no pain, no hunger, nothing truly unenjoyable. They didn't see in color, they had never known snow, hills, animals or death. Somebody, though, must hold all the feelings and the knowledge that the others do not have. I was chosen to be that person. The person who I was becoming, the receiver was the most honored person in the community, but had a very, very hard life to live. At first it was fun, all things like rainbows and sledding that were careless and painless to receive from the current receiver, who I called The Giver. Then as I became more familiar with receiving the memories, they became much more painful; broken legs, poverty, hunger, war are just a few of the many terrible memories. I went on with this for a year, but about a month ago, me and The Giver decided it would be easier for everyone to have the memories, instead of one person who was not allowed to talk about the memories to anyone anywhere, and couldn't take any pain medication for the pain of the memories. So we devised a plan- we would collect food to last me for a week or so, and then I would climb into the trunk of a car going out of the community. Everything was going as planned until one night, I found out some terrible news. Gabe here, you naughty little thing, wouldn't sleep through the night, but the community let him stay at our house for some extra nurturing. Unfortunately, though he was maturing quickly, he still wouldn't sleep through the night unless sleeping in the same room as me. So one terrible day, the plans shattered. I got home and we were eating dinner and I found out the news-Gabe was to be released the very next morning. I knew that I had to take him with me, and soon. So that night as the town slept, I stole some food from the leftovers collection place, took my father's bike with its child seat, and took Gabe. We rode out of the town, and traveled by night, sleeping by day, biking the long miles. The first week or so, every so often a search plane with heat seekers would try to find us. I would transmit Gabe memories of snow to make us cold to go undetected. Our food supplies, though rationed, slowly ran out. The journey took weeks, without anything to help resist the cold, but I knew that I had to keep going, for me and for Gabriel. We came here, to the top of the hill you found us in, and went down in a sled that we found at the top of the hill. We rode down, and I was the entire time struggling just to not pass out. We ended at the bottom of the hill, and then you found us. We were saved from our experience that brought us to the edge of death. And that's pretty much the whole story." Anne was looking at the two boys, struggling not to cry. "Do you mind me starting my barrage of questions?" "No" Jonas laughed, feeling much enlightened after letting the burden of his story be shared by someone else. "Okay then. Question one: You couldn't see in color?" "Nope" "You couldn't choose your job and you kept them for life?" "Yep" "The government chose your spouse and children?" "Yes, and though it sounds strange to you, where I come from the mere idea of doing it some other way is considered ridiculous" "Wow," Anne said "Well I guess I kind of understand. It's all about what your used to. Do you know exactly how long you traveled for?" "No, it was just a sort of cycle, very easy to lose track of." "You were passing out from hunger and exhaustion and you let Gabe eat first!" "When someone is the reason you are near death, because you love them, you will do anything for them" Jonas answered sentimentally. "Well then, now for the fun part. Let me give you a brief explanation of Christmas. It is a holiday of happiness joy and gift giving (and receiving.) So while we're on the topic of gift giving, it _is _Christmas today. Which means, you guessed it: Present time!" "What? You didn't need to…" He was cut off by Anne. "I know, but I _wanted to_, and you deserve them my friend." She walked over to a closet and started pushing out boxes of all shapes and sizes and colors. " Ok, these ones over here are for Gabe," she pushed a bunch of the boxes into a pile next to Gabe. He didn't need to be told, he just somehow knew that they were good, and for him. "And these ones, Jonas, are for you!" He ran over to the pile and started to gently pull the paper off of the box. "Jonas, you don't need to keep the paper intact, you can do what little Mr. Windmill Arms over there is doing" Jonas laughed and looked over at Gabe who really was little Mr. Windmill Arms, tearing the wrapping off at a mile a minute. Jonas followed suit, tearing the paper into shreds instantly. A new set of clothes! He really needed that. The next one had a small device that he didn't know the name of. "What's this?" he asked. "It's a remote control car. Haven't you had one before?" "What's a car? Is it like a bus?" "Yes but a bit smaller." Jonas took the car out of the box and read the paper that said how to use it. He picked up the… the box called it a remote controller, and pressed the button that said 'forward.' The little car zoomed across the floor, going at nearly the speed of his bike! "WHOA! AWESOME!" Jonas shouted, ecstatic. He tried out the other buttons and got the car to stop, go backwards, turn, and, wow, start flashing! He opened the next box. More clothes. He heard a strange noise coming from one of his larger boxes. He walked over to it. "rarf!" He tore the wrapping off and saw "Gabe come here! It's a puppy! Oh my goodness it's soooooo adorable thank you thank you thank you!" "You're welcome you're welcome you're welcome! You needed a new companion now that your parents aren't here, and the shelter was trying to get rid of her- she barely cost a penny! What're you gonna name her?" "Her name is going to be Memory."

{authors note: Please comment don't assume others will, I only have had 1 out of over 35 people comment despite my pleading! Thank you!}


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